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BLACKOUT!: NYC IN 1977 INSPIRES UMBRO’S NEW COLLECTION

by Christopher Blomquist — July 14, 2011

Soccer brand Umbro celebrated an infamous New York City blackout last night by launching a blackout-themed capsule collection and pop-up shop devoted to it on the 34th anniversary of the two-day massive power failure, which began on July 13, 1977 and resulted in looting, disorder, arson and other chaos citywide.

While it sounds like the historical event has nothing to do with soccer, July 13, 1977 also happens to be the day that champion Brazilian footer Carlos Alberto Torres arrived in New York to sign with its then local soccer team, The Cosmos, and who later went on to help make the team legendary.

The Cosmos Blackout Collection is a five-piece special edition group of two jackets, a T-shirt, a soccer jersey and a polo. Each item is entirely black and adorned with a tonal and reflective 1977 Cosmos team logo. At present, the items are only available at the new Cosmos Blackout pop-up at Reed Space at 151 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side but will be more widely distributed when it shuts down in just two weeks.

As an accompaniment to the collection, an animated video detailing the story of Torres’ arrival on that day has been created. Narrated by Torres, it can be seen on YouTube and on TV screens at the store. In addition, the full Blackout collection is available to see on Umbro USA’s Facebook page.

Appropriately, the temporary shop’s launch party last night was dimly lit and DJ’d by Clark Kent, who has previously admitted that he obtained his first DJ equipment at age 11 while looting during the blackout of ’77. During his set, Kent played era-accurate songs from the likes of Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor.